Ch 11: The dead walk again.

Issac patted the small box like object on his belt. Marisa was down, Reimu had yet to return and he was all alone going up this mountain. The two orbs following him did little to calm his hyperactive mind, causing him to jump at every little thing. 'Calm down Issac. You may be in danger, but this is not the time to get paranoid.' He closed his eyes for a moment, sighed, then opened them. What he wouldn't have given to have never opened them again...

The mountain was gone, along with the trees, the buildings, the rubble, the fires, even the smoke, all gone and replaced by a dark landscape. The landscape seemed broken stone, nothing but stone after stone after stone, as far as the eye could see. "What the hell..." Issac said, his heart beating in his ears, the steady pulse adding to a distant, empty wind. It was unnerving to say the least, terrifying to say anything else. Taking a moment to calm his heart and breathing, Issac took in the surroundings. He noted that after a few yards in any direction, the landscape was obscured by haze, purple, like the stones below him.

'This... can't be right.' Issac thought and started walking, picking a direction at random. He entered the haze and had to jump back, holding his throat. As soon as he entered that cloud, his body felt...dead. His lungs screamed for air, and his legs failed to support him, causing him to fall to the ground. "What...in...the..." He gasped and started sitting up, slowly getting back onto his feet. One thing was clear, he wasn't going anywhere near that mist again.

Within a few moments, Issac had explored the livable area of the landscape about 3 times. He sat down at the center of the clearing and tried to relax. It was hard to do, as he realized he had nothing more than the cloths on his back. No mini-hakaro, no ying yang orbs, no broom, not even his wrench. That seemed to hit him the hardest. What ever did this to him had taken the one bit of normal, the one bit of familiarity he had.

'I...I guess I'm stuck here.' Issac though and leaned back, holding himself up with his hands. "Syrena, Reimu, Marisa... I'm sorry." He said out loud, then chuckled. He had kind of expected an answer. "For what?" A voice said, making Issac jumping up to his feet. He scanned the clearing and the haze, then he saw it, and with anyone as his witness, Issac wished he hadn't.

Marisa stepped out of the haze, slowly, her left leg limping behind her. Her face was paler than porcelain, and her outfit was messy, as if she had slept in it. Dirt fell off it as she moved closer, forcing Issac to step back. That wasn't the worst. The worst, was her face, which sat without the right side. That's where she had been hit, right in the face by a fairy who blindsided her. Everything from her nose out and up was gone.

"For letting me die? Oh, I shouldn't be the one you apologize to. Reimu is much madder than I am. Here she is now..." Marisa said, looking past him with her one eye, giving him a look at what was left of her head. Issac nearly vomited at that. It only got worse when the second figure walked out of the haze. Once flowing black hair was shriveled and dry, the robes of a shrine maiden covered in blood. The hole where her heart was pulsed with blood, like her heart was still beating.

"Isssssssac..." Reimu hissed, like air escaping. "Whyyyy..." She hissed and held a hand up as the orbs floated up from the ground, both broken and cracked. They seemed to whistle with the winds, asking the same question. "Why... Why did you let us die?' Issac felt his heart beating faster as he saw Marisa pull her mini-hakaro from her dress, then flip it. Issac took a step back, then another, then bumped into something. He jumped forward and turned, falling to his knees as he felt all the air leave his body.

Syrena stood in front of him, her button up shirt pulled apart, the buttons hanging or gone, blood splattered on the front. That was all she wore, and from her porcelain white skin, dripping with blood from a wound in her neck, and the dirt on her body, Issac could guess what happened to her. "Issac..." Her wound bubbled a little when she spoke. "Why did you leave me with him..." Her voice was like gravel grating on concrete. "Why did you let him do this to me?" She asked, and spread her wing. Only one remained, and that one was torn, muscle and bone showing under dead feathers.

Issac had nothing he could say, his voice did not work, his lung stood frozen in time, and his body felt like it was in syrup. "Why Issac?" All three of them asked him, taking a step forward. "Why did you let him kill us?" They all took another step. It wasn't long before they were almost withing arm reach of Issac, the three of them surrounding him. They all looked like monsters, hungry, dead monsters. Issac looked to all of them, his blood running cold. He did the only thing that came to mind. He tackled Reimu and got up, taking off as fast as he could.